Africa Trip 2006

This years trip started out with a challenge. After working hard to raise all the money, obtain all the equipment and get it up, running and tested here, Nzola was not allowed to board his flight in Vancouver, and had to come back home that night. British Airways, which gives us a great price to fly because we are doing humanitarian work, was on high alert after the arrests in the UK and wanted Nzola to have extra paper work not “officially” required. So Rob, who had been scheduled to fly some days after Nzola actually got to Zambia first, and Nzola followed after roughly a two week delay.

Difficulty has continued to be a common thread during the trip thus far. The server which Nzola worked on so hard to get running before the trip, failed out of the box in Zambia. They have had to work the previous one that we were hoping to replace. There has been multiple other small delays along the way, but presently they have not been able to gain access to the equipment in Mozambique because the customs officials essentially want more money to clear it, or some (you guessed it) special paper work that Rob and Nzola have confirmed with multiple sources is not required. So now they are trying to negotiate the release of the equipment.

On the slightly good news side of things, Schneider Electric (my employer) has agreed to provide a new server to REMCU, and hopefully have it sent to Zambia in time for Nzola to install it before his return.

Some more good news, we have started planning for a new web site, and we already have a new domain name – www.remcu.org which points to the old one. (Go ahead give it a try).

The best news is that we have been officially instated and a charitable organization in Canada! This will really make a difference in our ability to move more quickly in the fund raising area.

This leads to my list of most important objectives, I need to find someone that would be willing to help lead a fund raising effort. If any of you are interested please let me know. Our goal for the next trip is $150,000. Wow – I know. But better to set high goals and fall short that low ones and fall short.

Sincerely,
Trever